Affordable SS that sound like Tubes

I was a 100% vinyl guy for many years. Due to maintenance cost and aggravation I switched to DSD after a lot of research and I have no regrets.

I am looking for suggestions on affordable SS that sounds as good as Tubes.

Here's the rub. My Mid Monos were less than $2,000 brand new and they sound incredible. As does my Pre that costed me less than $1,000.

Integrated suggestions are welcomed.

And I would like to hear from people that had fine tube equipment and switched to fine SS equipment.

And please, no mention of "Tubes have Higher Distortion." LOL

tonydennison08-21-2023 4:57pm

yyzsantabarbara Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 5,080 posts 08-25-2023 at 06:26am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete My example is via headphones. I sold my $7k RAAL VM-1a tube headphone amp which was glorious. I replaced that with the $800 Class A Schitt Aegir amp + Benchmark preamp, It was about 90% as good as the VM-1a. I already had the LA4 preamp for my 2-channel setup, so I leveraged that for both 2-channel and headphones. For some preceptive, my CODA #16 amp on the same headphone setup is about 90% as good as the VM-1a on the phones. That is an amazing compliment for the Aegir to be equally good in this setup. The Aegir is only 20 watts @ 8 Ohms. For my headphone needs it is spectacular. If I had a very easy to drive speaker, I would want to test it out with the Aegir. BTW - I think it is impossible for any 2-channel amp to equal the VM-1a. There is an adapter needed for any 2-chanel amp to connect to the RAAL phones and none is needed for the VM-1a.